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A review by toggle_fow
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book tried. Possibly, it tried too hard.
First, it seemed like it was going to be a generic case of the Color-Coded Masses rising against their Color-Coded Overlords. Meh. Then it switched gears, and seemed like it was about going deep undercover at Color-Coded Overlord School. I was excited for that one. And THEN, finally, it turned into The Hunger Games, but both stupider and with adult fiction levels of brutality and gore.
This might be a little harsh. I did have fun in the last twenty percent, when Darrow finally seemed to get a single mission clear in his head. Before that, though... Chaos. It was just pointless chaos, and it seemed like there was no goal, and none of it made any sense. The Hunger Games make sense because it's the point for kids to die in increasingly horrible and entertaining ways.
The point of this game was, somehow, for kids NOT to die. But also for them to be at war with each other. A war in which their only weapons are things like spears and swords and knives. But also, they're not supposed to die. Whoever designed this whole thing was an idiot.
"Of course, since we're all about natural selection, it makes total sense for us to artificially gather the top 1% of youths and make them maim, injure, and 'not' kill each other as much as possible. Especially since most of them are the sons and daughters of the most powerful people in the empire, who already are destabilizing and corrupting the system to fight their countless blood feuds. Also, it makes sense for us to pit kids against each other in one-on-one death matches and then be super mad when the wrong kids get killed." Idiot.
Anyway, the background setup might have been only a little annoying, except that for most of the book I just wasn't having much fun.
The only exceptions to that would be the last twenty percent, as I said, and also the time they spent in the city while Darrow was getting his makeover. Otherwise, the overarching feel was of flailing blindly in the darkness, and it was hard to get behind. I'll probably go on to finish the series, once enough time has passed for me to forget about how vaguely irritated I am right now.
First, it seemed like it was going to be a generic case of the Color-Coded Masses rising against their Color-Coded Overlords. Meh. Then it switched gears, and seemed like it was about going deep undercover at Color-Coded Overlord School. I was excited for that one. And THEN, finally, it turned into The Hunger Games, but both stupider and with adult fiction levels of brutality and gore.
This might be a little harsh. I did have fun in the last twenty percent, when Darrow finally seemed to get a single mission clear in his head. Before that, though... Chaos. It was just pointless chaos, and it seemed like there was no goal, and none of it made any sense. The Hunger Games make sense because it's the point for kids to die in increasingly horrible and entertaining ways.
The point of this game was, somehow, for kids NOT to die. But also for them to be at war with each other. A war in which their only weapons are things like spears and swords and knives. But also, they're not supposed to die. Whoever designed this whole thing was an idiot.
"Of course, since we're all about natural selection, it makes total sense for us to artificially gather the top 1% of youths and make them maim, injure, and 'not' kill each other as much as possible. Especially since most of them are the sons and daughters of the most powerful people in the empire, who already are destabilizing and corrupting the system to fight their countless blood feuds. Also, it makes sense for us to pit kids against each other in one-on-one death matches and then be super mad when the wrong kids get killed." Idiot.
Anyway, the background setup might have been only a little annoying, except that for most of the book I just wasn't having much fun.
The only exceptions to that would be the last twenty percent, as I said, and also the time they spent in the city while Darrow was getting his makeover. Otherwise, the overarching feel was of flailing blindly in the darkness, and it was hard to get behind. I'll probably go on to finish the series, once enough time has passed for me to forget about how vaguely irritated I am right now.